Struggling mom gets a traffic ticket — then an amazing surprise from police

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GREENWOOD VILLAGE, Colo. -- After more than a year of one tough thing after the other, a mother in Colorado got a helping hand -- after being pulled over.

KDVR reports that Naomi Norelli first was diagnosed with cancer while she was pregnant with her second child.

After fighting cancer, she moved to Denver for a new job. The job fell through, and when she found a new one, her car died.

Norelli then bought a new car, and then found out she needed to come up with $400 for registration tags.

That's when she was pulled over for expired tags right around the corner from her job.

"The police officer asked why my tags were so far expired. I explained 'Well it's between the tag and the groceries, essentially.' I am a single parent with two kids under the age of 5 and just trying to make those ends meet with the kids is really challenging," Norelli said.

She was given a ticket.

But what happened next made up for it.

After Norelli arrived at work, two police officers showed up with bags of groceries. Her co-workers wrote a thank you email to the police department -- and it was soon circulated around the department.

A few days later, the department followed up with more food, money to cover her ticket, a Starbucks card and a toy for her 4-year-old.

"They did not have to go out of their way," she said. "They could have just given me a ticket. That's really amazing."